


Joyride

by shinealightrose



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Chaebol Jinwoo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5531318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jinwoo is a lonely chaebol and Mino is the upbeat son of the family's head butler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Joyride

The strobe lights are beginning to hurt his eyes; his head is pounding. Beyond the heavy thumping of the music, that's all Jinwoo registers. He thrashes through the crowd looking for open space, anywhere he' not being jostled around. His ribs already feel bruised from all the elbows he's run into, and he feels like he can't breathe.

"Jinwoo!" Somebody's yelling over the heads of the crowd. He turns and makes eye contact but continues his pace. It's only Seunghoon, and his friend looks about as drunk as Jinwoo feels. Behind him Taehyun is dancing with a girl he's probably never met before this night, and the last time he saw Seungyoon, the guy was nursing a couple too-fancy cocktails while flirting with the bartender, and failing miserably. It's just another night on the party scene, and Jinwoo is so bored and done with it all. 

He's known all the guys since they were kids in prep school. Their parents knew each other when  _they_  were prep school, and their grandparents were the pioneers of each of their families' wealth and status. Jinwoo, just like the others, is a third-generation chaebol and if he didn't have an image to maintain in front of society, he'd happily give it up. Not the wealth of course, because that's a nice accessory and it's fun to spend money. The sharpest fashions, trendy today, gone tomorrow. He's got the nicest shoes, bags, all the gadgets he wants and a watch for every day of the week and then some. Out of all them, he thinks he looks the best, slim and glamorous, and the only thing he needs to do to win a girl is flash his platinum credit card. Even Seunghoon or Seungyoon don't have his skills, although Taehyun just has to smile right and they're falling at his feet. 

It's great being rich, and most of the time he loves it. He doesn't even have to drive through the busy Seoul streets because his family has their own chauffeur. Somewhere outside of this wretched club the old man is probably parked on a curb just waiting for Jinwoo to stick his head out the door and signal for him to drive them to the next place. 

If only he didn't feel so miserable right now. Drunk, and a bit nauseous, it's a great equalizer. He could probably stumble into the alleyway and puke his guts and be just as happy, or feel just as crappy, as a homeless person. At least until he sobers up. The last time he puked it was on his shoes and part of his pant leg, and the thought of a repeat offense right now isn't quite as appealing.

He steadily ignores his friends calling his name and finds the entrance, passing the bouncers and the crowd of wannabees on his way out. He gasps in a breath of fresh air. It's instantly relieving, although he still feels kind of sick. He hopes the chauffeur catches up to him quickly. In the meantime he stumbles down the sidewalk away from the line, blindly waves a hand in the air, and then squats towards the ground. His ankles support him, perched bent knees, until his friends catch up.

"Time for the next place?!" Seunghoon shouts excitedly. 

"Wow, I think he's wasted," says Seungyoon.

Taehyun just giggles, and so does the girl under his arm. She's cute, petite, rich, and drags two other girls behind her. 

"Where's the car, man?" Taehyun asks, his voice unnaturally loud to Jinwoo's ears. He's driving them all tonight, or rather his chauffeur is. 

"I don't know, but what's with the new guy anyways? He's a bit slow, right?" says Seunghoon.

"New guy?" Jinwoo frowns. He tries to stand up and one of the guys catches him by his elbow. 

"What? You didn't notice?" Taehyun laughs. 

A car horn honks, their limo pulling up to the curb. Somehow, between the girls and his friends, Jinwoo finds himself relaxing in the back of the car. The cool of the car window feels good against his scalp, but his mind still spins. So there's a new guy? When did that happen? What happened to the old guy? The face of tonight's driver swims before his eyelids. Who... why does he look familiar... who? Oh yeah, that's right. He remembers vaguely their butler saying something about the chauffeur being ill; that his son will drive them instead. The butler's son, that's who's driving tonight. 

Whatever. As long as he gets home alive. 

 

 

 

 

_"Hey, we're here."_

_"What about Jinwoo though? He's passed out."_

_"Ahh man, I don't want to be dragging him around all night..."_

_"We can't leave him though, Tae."_

_"Why not? It's his car. He'll be fine."_

_"But..."_

_"Come on! The night is young!"_

_"But-"_

_"Come on! Ladies, after you!"_

 

 

 

 

Mino is bored. He's been bored as hell all evening actually, ever since his dad tossed a hat in his direction and a set of keys in between his fingers. He hates chauffeuring; he absolutely hates it. It may be his first night doing this, and he might be getting paid, but he doesn't need to sign up for a second round to know that he's never getting sucked into this again. Driving around a group of drunk, rich kids is just not his definition of a fun night about a town. He had plans before this. He has his own friends and cooler things he could be doing. Instead, he's curb-sitting and getting treated like a shit servant by whoever the young master's friends are when they direct him to the next place. 

The only decent thing is about tonight is that the limo is a smooth ride. It's not quite one of the family's many sports cars, but he doesn't mind driving it. Someone taps on the driver window and he quickly rolls it down. It's just Taehyun, if Mino remembers his name correctly, telling him they'll be here at least an hour. It's condescending, the way he winks and snaps his fingers like Mino is dismissed, but Mino doesn't stay around long enough to argue. He's got one hour and a three-quarters full tank of gas. That's long enough to cruise over the Han River and back and get some real air moving in this stuffy cab. 

 

 

Ten minutes later he almost gets the shit scared right out of him. 

"What the fuck is going on... Taehyun? Seunghoon?? Yooon? Shit... ow. What the crap, where am I..."

Mino's heart races and his fingers cramp up around the steering wheel. The young master Jinwoo's face swims in his rear view mirror, separated from Mino by the limo divider but in just a couple more seconds the drunk owner of the vehicle Mino commandeered is going to realize what's going on. 

"Uhm..." says Jinwoo. His eyes look shot, but there's comprehension dawning on his expression.

"Shit. Hi!" Mino screeches. He takes the first exit off the freeway and searches frantically for a place to park. If the young master wants to yell or beat him or throw up on him, Mino would prefer for that to happen while he's not driving, thus risking their lives. He pulls over at the first decent place and shuts the engine. There's frost on his breath when he alights and he pulls his jacket tight around his collar before rushing to the passenger door. 

Jinwoo refuses to get out. He looks ill, nauseous, and vaguely pissed off.

"Did you..." his voice wobbles, "murder my friends and leave them in a ditch somewhere?"

"I... uh, no. Definitely not."

"Then where are they and why are you driving off with me still in the car. Are you... oh my God, this is a kidnapping isn't it."

For someone who believes he's just been kidnapped, Jinwoo is pretty chill about it. He tries to slide sideways across the leather seat but his body won't cooperate. He ends up slinking onto his back with his head on the seat closest to where Mino hovers. 

"I... I didn't know you were still in the car. I'm so so sorry! Your friends told me where to drop them off and said to be back in an hour so..."

Jinwoo clenches his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. "So you decided to take a joy ride in my family's limo because you were bored?"

"Uhm. Yes," says Mino. His dad used to tell him that honesty in situations like these. 

Jinwoo sighs, like he can't believe his life right now. "So my friends ditched me, and the chauffeur stole my limo with me inside it. Great, that's just great." 

"I'm... sorry?" Mino offers up. 

"Of course you are. So where are we again?"

"Parked by the river. Do you want me to take you home right now? Or back to the club. Oh, water! Do you need some water? Or... a good puke?"

Mino knows he's being frantic, but he can't help himself. He's technically done something criminal and he got caught by the young master, who's either mental or quite drunk, or else a weird combination of both. If he wasn't so worried about the impending consequences he might actually think this was funny. Jinwoo, usually so put-together and posh, rolling around the back seat of the limo like he wants to curl up and die. Mino's seen the man quite a few times around the house, but usually from afar. His impression was always of a cold, tight-lipped young man with too much money. Now, however, he's quite amazed when Jinwoo - far from thrashing him for stealing the car - starts to laugh. 

"What's... funny? Are you okay?"

But Jinwoo continues to laugh, more of a giggle. His hand covers his face like he's trying to stop himself but still he giggles on. Mino stands above him and gapes. 

Finally, Jinwoo turns silent, only a hiccup piercing the air. "Water," he says. "Yeah, water sounds good. And help me out of this car okay, please? The leather's making me nauseous again." 

Mino does as asked. A few minutes later he's walking with his arm under Jinwoo's elbow so the guy doesn't slip and fall on the dewy grass of the river park. 

"I want to see the river! Let's go sit by the river!" 

It's not exactly how Mino planned his night, but he takes his father's employer's son to a park bench and sits next to him when asked and together they stare at the night sky reflecting across the waterway. 

"What's your name?" Jinwoo asks, as if they haven't been sitting in silence for the last ten minutes.

"Mino." 

"Mino," Jinwoo repeats with a nod. "Well, Mino. You stole my car but you didn't kidnap me or dump me in a ditch somewhere, so I guess we can be friends."

"Friends?" Mino asks, shocked?

Jinwoo laughs again, a deep wheezing sound but his lips are curled upwards and he appears to be enjoying himself. "Yep. Friends. Oh, on one condition."

Mino sighs. He knew there was a catch. "Yes?"

"Yep. Here's the condition. Several conditions actually: you let me sit in the front seat on the way back. And... we ditch those idiot friends of mine and let them find their own way back. Deal?" 

He looks at Mino finally for the first time that evening, right into his eyes and Mino gulps. Whatever happened to the cold young man Mino thought he was? Right now he just sees youth with a spark of life. 

Half an hour later they're racing down the freeway with the windows down and the radio up, screaming their lungs out, and not once does Jinwoo answer a single one of his friends' text messages. 

 


End file.
